Xanadu Weyr - Training Grounds
A wide, grassy expanse, nestled into the gentle bowl shape where something's taken a bite out of the mountain. It's high above the level of the beach, and there's a good eastern view of the lake and a long path leading down to that sandy shore. Granite cliffs surround it on the other sides.
While much of the grounds are left in their natural state, one area has been trampled and trodden by enough feet that the grass struggles to grow. A running track circles a set of equipment - straw dummies with wooden frames, obstacles of various sizes and shapes, and targets for flaming, archery, and whatever else.
There's a dragon-sized opening to the south that leads to the cavernous weyrling barracks, and a smaller tunnel to the northeast - large enough for dragons newly emerged from the sands, but quickly outgrown by hatchlings who are then forced to take the long way around - at least, until they learn to spread their wings and fly. Between them in both position and size, a jagged crack in the stone leads to a dim cave with the sound of water.
Midfall and the day has been drippy, dreary, breezy and just plain icky since Kera gotta bed. Taking advantage of the break in showers, the greenhealer decided to get a run in while she could. Her path meandered around the Weyr some til she found herself jogging around the training grounds. Slowing to a stop and catching her breath, she is near the planted equiptment so does a little jump to reach the pullup bar. After touching her chin to the cold bar a few times, she simply just hangs, not attempting more pullups for some reason.
Having a good workout regime is critical! Or, at least it's been instilled in the minds of riders everywhere if they had a good Weyrlingmaster team! As Weyrleader, Ka'el makes an effort to make sure his riders, despite their wing, keep themselves and their lifemates physically active. He has the same standards for himself, which is probably why he's outside this dreary day, looking less like a Weyrleader and more like an athlete. A sweaty one in sweats! He's been using the equipment here to climb upon and practice with. Kanekith is nowhere to be seen, but fresh dragon prints in the mud may be an indication that he at least was here recently. Ka'el is currently climbing down from the obstacle course, jumping the last few feet to the ground. Phew! He wipes his brows, turning his attention to the other person he saw arrive. He heads towards her, chuckling. "Just…hanging out, huh?"
Kera nods to Ka'el when he approaches, sorta. Hard to really give a nod to someone when you are hanging around. Chuckling ar the bronzer's joke, "Oh haha. I'm excercising, really hard. I was running, now I'm doing pull-ups. Can't ya tell?" Flashing her friend an amused grin. "I'm visualizing pull-ups. I can see myself doing perfect ones. Those count right?" After a moment, she lets go and drops to the ground, splashing since there was a puddle under her. "Ooops. Sorry." Then looking the sweaty Weyrleader over, it probably doesn't matter. Rubbing her arms a bit from the muscle stretching she just gave them by hanging around.
"Visualization. Hmmm, that's the newest technique of exercise, isn't it?" quips Ka'el, grinning. "Imagining yourself doing it is almost the same as actually doing it. I even heard it might actually give you the same results!" He laughs afterwards, merely leaning back as she splashes down. Muddy water splatters the bottoms of his sweat, but he doesn't seem to care. "It's good to see you out. I'm actually drawing up a workout plan that I'd like to see done at least monthly by all the riders. The training field gets used the most when we have Weyrlings, but many, if not all, of the exercises here would be good to brush up on at least monthly. Especially for those wings who aren't as .. dragon-active as others." A smirk. "How's Moncerath?"
Kera nods with a quick grin when Ka'el jumps right on the bandwagon and agrees that her visual pull-ups were just as good as real ones. Sorta. "I've heard very similar things. There must be some truth in it somewhere, considering how effective our visualizing techniques are when showing your dragonmate a destination." Canting her head a bit, she listens to Ka'el plans about drawing people to the training grounds more often, and glances around the currently soggy grounds. "Maybe add some equipment that is only here in the Training area." Inquiry of her dragonmate draws a grin "She's well. She loves swimming, but she doesn't really like getting rained on very much." Kera shrugs and chuckles at Moncerath's quirkiness. "How are Kanekith and the rest of the family?" Kera flashes a sly grin to her friend "Have you and Soriana decided it's time for 'Skyler' to get a pup afterall?"
"I've pondered an equipment room," Ka'el mentions, lifting a hand to rub at his chin as his eyes turn from her to consider the training field in general. "Indoors. For humans only, of course," he says with a vague, yet crooked grin. Imagining dragons inside is .. laughable! "For riders and non-riders to use for conditioning. Strength-training. Especially on days like this or winter days when being outside can be … hazardous." He strokes his chin again, then inhales and exhales a breath, laughing a little at the news regarding Moncerath. "Yeah? Ha, maybe there's something different about water falling from the sky compared to water in a lake. Kanekith is well. Holed up on the barn at the moment. He's not a fan of .. mud," he coughs, shaking his head. He has the vainest of vain dragons! "And … were you aware that Soriana and I have eight animals? Eight! That number alone is making me rethink the canine-idea," he laughs, shaking his head. "We'll be overrun."
Kera lifts a brow at the indoor excercise room idea. "If it can be aired out from time to time.." Otherwise, ewww. Thinking about it a bit more, she rubs her hands on the driest part of her shirt and jumps, reaching for a differant overhead to hand from. Thankfully this one isn't over a puddle. Working her fingers into a better grip, her gaze flicks to Ka'el, chuckling "So no wallowing around in the mud for him huh? Lucky you, otherwise you'ld have extra scrubbing to do." Gritting her teeth a bit, she works herself up, a foot swings out and back, giving her the extra boost to touch her chin to the pole and lowers back to hang. A confused frown at the bronzer's tally "Eight? How you managed that? I know you have two tunnelcats. Didn't know you had that many flitters though."
“It’d be madness to have an exercise room with no windows,” laughs Ka’el. “Or at least air-conditioning units. But all that requires time, money, and resources. We’ll see if this thought flies.” He steps back as she gets back to work, his show squelching in the mud behind him, which earns a brief glance. “You’d be surprised how much extra scrubbing I end up doing anyway. He enjoys being cleaned … even if he already is perfectly clean to begin with.” He chuckles, then pulls up the hood of his hoodie, covering his head as a few sparse sprinkles begin to fall. “Heh. Nugget, Alloy,” he says, marking off the names of critters and counting them on his fingers, “Haruhi, Toral, Joy, Dusty, Kanekith, and Luraoth. .. I still think a canine could work, especially since the dragons don’t count as ‘pets’, and the firelizards mostly keep up with themselves. We’ll see with that, too. Did you have a chance to see your friend in .. Ista, was it?”
Kera manages another couple of pull ups, the last one was close enough, before dropping back to the ground. Shaking her hands gently to loosen the cramp that was threatening to work up her arm. Nodding to concede the point of alot of scrubbing whether mud is involved or not, Kanekith is a much bigger dragon than her Moncerath after all. Ka'el counts names off but she shakes her head at including Kanekith and Luraoth. "Ya can't count them as pets though. You're dragonmates I mean." The reminder of Ista gets a chuckle and quick dip of her head as she recalls a few incedents. "I did actually. Her and Nikita are doing well." Suppressing a grin she goes on "They were both at the masquerade recently. She went in a green lizard mask, with her baby in a basket, Nikita had a cute little jumper with eggs painted all over it."
Ka'el nods. "Which is just what I said, yes," he remarks with a faintly amused smirk in her direction in answer to her dragon comment. "Beside, Kanekith can be more like another child than a pet," he laughs amusedly, giving his head a fond shake. "A very large, temperamental, demanding child. I truly do hope he isn't giving Skyler any ideas." His grin remains, light now as she speaks of Ista. He nods once. "I heard it was an interesting time. I haven't heard much on the costumes, though," he says with a faint tip of his head. "What did you decide to go as, in the end? I'm happy that you were able to attend and see her, and it's good news that both are doing well. I know you had slight concerns about the timing of the birth."
Kera smiles as she agrees with Ka'el on the issue that dragons aren't pets, but offers a little shrug at the kid comparison "I can see your point, but I'll just have to take your word on it." Canting a glance to the weyrleader when he mentions 'hearing' about it, she's afraid to ask what all he heard and from whom. "With the help of an old wide brimmed hat, some leafy branches, surgical masks and a little paint, I went as an orange fruit tree." Wincing a bit "I irked more than a couple of people with it I think, branches sticking out an all." Shrugging off any complaints about her costume poking people, if any arose, "There were alot of pretty masks though. Bet they cost a pretty mark too."
Ka'el laughs! "An orange fruit tree? That had to have been the most creative costume! Were there prizes given?" he asks, grinning broadly at the thought of Kera as a tree. "I could imagine it possibly being a little…eh, cumbersome to walk around in, if the branches were large and stuck out far. But still! I think it probably was worth a prize, if not an honorable mention," he says as he shakes out a sleeve. "It was good of you to make it, too. M'sure the ones that were bought were spectacular, but it's sometimes fun to create your own and personalize the look exactly the way you want. The last masquerade I went to, I went as…" he pauses, eyes squinting. "…fire? I think.. Heh, a friend of mine helped with the look. He's good with clothing and face paint. I actually believes he specializes in design, now."
Kera flashes a grin as Ka'el is highly amused by her home made costume. "Considering it was just a hat and brown pants with shirt, yea it 'was' kinda pokin out everywhere. Silly thing was front heavy and kept blinding me." A snort is huffed out as her miscalculation. Shrugging it off, she's quick to resume her little smile. "It was fun….for most people I think. The Monaco candidates where there too. Some at least. I didn't recognize very many people since most everyone was wearing mask of one sort or another." Reaching up, she swipes excess rain droplets from her hair, fling them awake with a flick of her wrist. It doesn't seem to be raining steady, just little drizzles here or there. "Fire? Okie, body painting patterns yea, I can see that. But what about your hair, put paint on that too?"
"A masquerade is one way to be able to … step out of your comfort zone a bit. Hidden behind a mask, like you said, people can be difficult to recognize. So sometimes, people feel more comfortable taking chances knowing that they won't be judged as their true selves." Ka'el peers skyward a little, looking up at the gray mass that is the Xanadu sky. It will likely be gloomy and wet all day! "The Monaco Bay Candidates truly are having a time of it," he says, looking back at her. "It's always nice when events happen during Candidacy. They came some days ago for a visit. They seem like a good group. Interesting folk." The question of his costume brings a chuckle. "If I remember correctly, he did. Sort've a … flame, smoke mixture of darks and lights. I'm likely doing a piss-poor job of describing it, but it was actually rather good. I didn't fully appreciate his efforts at the time… He wanted to add…sparkle for effect, but I refused." He makes a face. "I'd still refuse…" he remarks before laughing. "In any case, I should let you get back to your conditioning, and I should finish mine before the rain starts up again."
Kera gives his words a bit of though before nodding "Guess that explains a couple of things. People were trying to enjoy themselves. Almost everyone I saw seemed to me doing a good job of it." She can't seem to stop her eyes to drifting to the top of Ka'el's head, as if trying to picture the techniques mentioned. There is no mistaking the cringe when sparkly effects. "I don't blame you there. That stuff is hard to get out of your hair." Chuckling at the image of a fire headed Ka'el, she nods and offers a wave to her friend "Alright. Guess I won't have an excuse to put off those last seven pull ups now." A brief pout before it morphs back into her humor again. Looking skywards as the drizzle picks up a bit more "I think your idea would be getting alot of use today if we had one. Maybe we need some sort of fundraiser." The last bit mostly to herself though as she waves to the departing man once more "G'day Ka'el." Then eyes glare back up to the bar and with a sigh, she jumps up to grab it.